BlackRock Inc becomes a Climate Bonds Partner

Global asset manager BlackRock has announced they will join the Climate Bonds Initiative Partnership programme, effective immediately.  The Climate Bonds Initiative is an investor-focused not-for-profit, promoting large-scale investment in the low-carbon economy.

Kevin Holt, Co-head of the Americas Fixed Income said: “There is an increasing demand for innovative, sustainable investment solutions to address climate, carbon and environmental issues. Many investors are demanding more than a financial return for their investments. They want their investments to have a positive social or environmental impact. Green and climate-designated bonds have the potential to play an increasingly important role as investors attempt to meet these demands.

“The Climate Bonds Initiative is taking a leading role in building consensus for Green Bond standards and impact reporting mechanisms. As this market evolves, standardization should help attract investor demand and increase the liquidity of these bonds.  We will be working closely with Climate Bonds Initiative, bringing our perspective as one of the largest asset managers in the sector.

“BlackRock is a leader in sustainable investing, managing more than $US200 billion across exclusionary screens, environmental, social and governance (ESG) portfolios, and impact investments. Our Green Bond capabilities are a critical component of our BlackRock Impact platform.”

Climate Bonds CEO Sean Kidney said: “BlackRock have already been a massive investor in the green bonds space.

“We now have the opportunity to marry BlackRock’s depth of understanding of investor needs and their market reach with the impact knowledge of our 120-organisation strong climate science community to provide reporting tools that make a huge difference to investor understanding and engagement with the green bonds market.  This will help that market continue to grow while ensuring capital flows to investments that make a real difference.”

“Corporates, issuers and governments should, and will, see this as an important milestone. A milestone in the growth of institutional investor support for the extraordinary opportunity we have to develop a robust international green bonds market. A market that can be a key means of channeling capital to the low carbon and climate resilient investments we all so urgently need.”